Development of Chinese landscape paintings

Chinese landscape painting is defined as mountains-and-waters painting. It is based on the natural landscape of mountains and rivers as the main description and is about 1,000 years earlier compared with the Western landscape painting. Chinese landscape painting originated from the practical maps used to distinguish areas. It was formed in the period of Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties. At this time, it has already had aesthetic value but not been completely separated from figure painting. 

It was at the time of Sui and Tang dynasties that it beganto become independent. Spring Outing by Zhan Ziqian in the Sui Dynasty is the first complete landscape. During the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese landscape painting was finally mature and became an important subject of traditional Chinese painting. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, there were green landscape paintings to reflect the natural scenery. Green landscape painting can be said to be the ancestor of Chinese landscape painting that shows the vitality of nature and gives people a strong color impact.

To the Yuan Dynasty, since a large number of intellectuals could not reach their ambition, they can only live in seclusion in the forest, indulge in painting and calligraphy. Their ideal of life and artistic thoughts were mostly for their self-amusement. They did their best to comprehend Taoism and Zen then put their thoughts and emotions into their painting. 

Appreciation of Chinese landscape paintings ancient famous landscape painters and their paintings

Zhan Ziqian -- Spring Outing (Sui Dynasty)Zhan Ziqian -- Spring Outing (Sui Dynasty)

It opened the artistic voice of the prosperous Tang Dynasty，is the earliest extant independent scroll landscape painting.

Wang Ximeng -- The Vast Land (Part)

The Chinese name means A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains. It is a silk color painting created by Wang Ximeng in the Northern Song Dynasty which has three sections and has been a great aggregation of ink landscape since this Dynasty.

Wang Wei -- Wangchuan Tu (part)

Wang Wei's landscape painting initiated the ink landscape genre, which was an important change in the history of landscape painting.

Modern famous landscape painters and their paintings

Zhang Daqian -- Love Trace Lake

Love trace Lake is a huge silk painting created by Zhang Daqian, a famous master painter of traditional Chinese painting in 1968. It is the most wonderful and largest one in the series. The silk painting depicts the view of 

Lake Aachen in Switzerland. In the exhibition hall of Jinan University Alumni Building, there are three famous paintings on display which were from famous Jinan masters Qing Daoren, Huang Binhong and Tao Lengyue.

Qingdaoren (1867--1920), a native of Jiangxi, is the mentor of the famous painter Zhang Daqian. In 1909, Li Ruiqing Hanlin took over as supervisor of Jinan School.

Huang Binhong (1865-1955) used to be a lecturer in traditional Chinese painting in the Art Department of National Jinan University and a mentor in the Chinese painting Research Association of Jinan University.

Tao Lengyue (1895--1985) was one of the first successful painters to try to integrate Chinese and Western painting methods.

Influence and transition of Chinese landscape paintings

The transition of landscape painting enriched people's spiritual life promoted the continuous development 

of art, which is also an inevitable law of development. Due to the influx of western culture in modern society, the thought of modern painting is also developing towards diversification. People's aesthetic standards are also 

developing and changing with the rapid development of modern society.